Imagine - by Frances Goldin & Debby Smith & Michael Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

The polar ice caps are melting, hurricanes and droughts ravish the planet, and the earth's population is threatened by catastrophic climate change. Millions of American jobs have been sent overseas and aren't coming back. Young African-American men make up the majority of America's prison population. Half of the American population are poor or near poor, living precariously on the brink, while the top one percent own as much as the bottom eighty. Government police-state spying on its citizens is pervasive. Consequently, as former President Jimmy Carter has said, "we have no functioning democracy."

Imagine: Living In a Socialist U.S.A., edited by Francis Goldin, Debby Smith, and Michael Steven Smith, is at once an indictment of American capitalism as the root cause of our spreading dystopia and a cri de coeur for what life could be like in the United States if we had economic as well as a real political democracy. This anthology features essays by revolutionary thinkers, activists, and artists--including Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, civil rights activist Angela Davis, incarcerated journalist Mumia Abu Jamal, and economist Rick Wolff-- addressing various aspects of a new society and, crucially, how to get from where we are now to where we want to be, living in a society that is truly fair and just.

Book Synopsis

The polar ice caps are melting, hurricanes and droughts ravish the planet, and the earth's population is threatened by catastrophic climate change. Millions of American jobs have been sent overseas and aren't coming back. Young African-American men make up the majority of America's prison population. Half of the American population are poor or near poor, living precariously on the brink, while the top one percent own as much as the bottom eighty. Government police-state spying on its citizens is pervasive. Consequently, as former President Jimmy Carter has said, "we have no functioning democracy."

Imagine: Living In a Socialist U.S.A., edited by Francis Goldin, Debby Smith, and Michael Steven Smith, is at once an indictment of American capitalism as the root cause of our spreading dystopia and a cri de coeur for what life could be like in the United States if we had economic as well as a real political democracy. This anthology features essays by revolutionary thinkers, activists, and artists--including Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, civil rights activist Angela Davis, incarcerated journalist Mumia Abu Jamal, and economist Rick Wolff-- addressing various aspects of a new society and, crucially, how to get from where we are now to where we want to be, living in a society that is truly fair and just.

From the Back Cover

"What are the possibilities inherent in Socialism? What is it? What can it mean to humanity 's future? What would it look like in America? These are the questions raised in this exquisitely timely book. We must profoundly change the way we live, or we will not survive. A Socialism that we make ourselves could be the answer."--Alice Walker

The polar ice caps are melting, hurricanes and droughts ravish the planet, and Earth's population is threatened by catastrophic climate change. Millions of American jobs have been sent overseas and aren't coming back. Young African American men make up the majority of America's prison population. Half of the American population is poor or near poor, living precariously on the brink, while the top one percent owns as much as the bottom eighty. Government police-state spying on its citizens is pervasive. Consequently, as former President Jimmy Carter has said, "we have no functioning democracy."

Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA is at once an indictment of American capitalism as the root cause of our spreading dystopia and a cri di coeur for what life could be like in the United States if we had economic as well as a real political democracy. It features thirty-one concise and accessible essays by revolutionary thinkers and activists on various aspects of a new society and, crucially, on how to get from where we are now to where we want to be, living in a society that is truly fair and just.

Contributors Include

Paul Street - Joel Kovel - Ron Reosti - Rick Wolff - Michael Steven Smith - Mumia Abu-Jamal - Angela Davis - Ajamu Baraka - Harriet Fraad - Tess Fraad-Wolff - Renate Bridenthal - Blanche Wiesen Cook - Leslie Cagan - Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz - Steven Wishnia -Juan Gonzalez - Frances Fox Piven - Arun Gupta - Tom Angotti - Dave Lindorff - William Ayers - Mat Callahan - Clifford D. Conner - Fred Jerome - Michael Moore - Michael Ratner - Kazembe Balagun - Michael Zweig - Dianne Feeley - Paul Le Blanc - Martín Espada - Terry Bisson

Review Quotes

The best, most insightful and most lively work on socialism to appear in a long time. Its unique approach gives readers a chance to renew the future-vision that once, long ago, put Edward Bellamy's LOOKING BACKWARD onto the all-time best sellers' list and even converted Eugene Debs. This book is bound to have a big impact on the way we view our country. - -Paul Buhle, author of MARXISM IN THE UNITED STATES
The death of capitalism, sooner rather than later, is a certainty. Yet, scenarios for transition to socialism, the only system that can save humanity from the accumulated contradictions of its past, are both scarce and often so generalized as to be useless to those locked in today's desperate struggles. How does the great human constellation make the epochal break, from our particular spaces in the here and now? In answering this question, socialists must apply universal principles to a whole world of particularities, starting with the movements in which they are directly engaged. Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA has gathered under one cover some of the most gifted thinkers and activists of the American Left, men and women for whom socialism is the compass that points to radical transformation-a world put on new footing, snatched back from the precipice. - --Glen Ford, executive editor, Black Agenda Report
Throughout history, those who have sought radical change have always had to first discredit the ideas used to prop up ruling elites and construct alternative ideas for society. The articulation of a viable socialism as an alternative to corporate tyranny is, for me, paramount. Once ideas shift for a large portion of a population, once the vision of a new society grips the popular imagination, the old regime is finished. That is why Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA is an important contribution in promoting revolutionary ferment and consciousness. - --Chris Hedges, author of DEATH OF THE LIBERAL CLASS
Reduced to a dirty word in the lexicon of pundits and out-of-touch politicians, socialism is being reclaimed by a new generation and is on the verge of assuming its rightful place in America. Part history, part analysis, part call to action, Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA, is a roadmap for anyone troubled by the social, political and economic inequities plaguing this country and the world. Far-seeing in design, this primer of brave and impassioned essays by luminaries in the fields of journalism, law, and social justice is sustenance for an emergent movement. - --Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild
Part history, part analysis, part call to action, Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA, is a roadmap for anyone troubled by the social, political and economic inequities plaguing this country and the world. - --Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild
IMAGINE: LIVING IN A SOCIALIST USA is the book so many of us have been waiting for. What are the possibilities inherent in Socialism? What is it? What can it mean to humanity's future? What would it look like in the U.S.A.? These are the questions raised in this exquisitely timely book. We must profoundly change the way we live, or we will not survive. A Socialism that we make ourselves could be the answer. - Alice Walker
IMAGINE: LIVING IN A SOCIALIST USA is the book so many of us have been waiting for. ...exquisitely timely... We must profoundly change the way we live, or we will not survive. - Alice Walker